The martyr of Erromanga : or, The philosophy of missions, illustrated from the labours, death, and character of the late Rev. John Williams

Front matter

UC-NRLF

: 5*0

*B ETb DD^

Preface

The source of all evil in our world is ignorance of God, or enmity against him. While this enmity and that ignorance remain, and in proportion as they preponderate, sin and misery will continue to exist and to prevail. The only means, therefore, of curing the maladies of human nature, and of rectifying the disorders of society, is to substitute knowledge for ignorance, and love for enmity. This will effect a recovery, and restore tranquillity, complete, universal, and permanent. The result of this substitution will be true and perfect civilization, comprehending every thing necessary to elevate, adorn, and bless mankind — the resurrection of buried intellect — the enthronement of enlightened reason — the subjugation of unhallowed passion — the infusion of real humanity — the extinction of war, with its calamities — the establishment of peace, with its blessings — the annihilation of all that is hurtful to man, and the introduction of all that is contributory to his ii PREFACE.

happiness, — liberty,— literature, — arts, — science, — commerce, — just legislation, — and international harmony. Hence arise the surpassing glory of the Missionary Enterprise, and the matchless excellence of the Missionary Character, — an enterprise which comprehends all lands, all times, and all men, with all their interests for both worlds ; and a character which forms the highest and noblest manifestation of philanthropy, patriotism, piety, and moral greatness.

The work of Missions is incomparably the best medium through which to contemplate the cross of Christ and the mercy of God. The true history of that work supplies a body of the most convincing evidence in support of Christianity, that can be produced. Williams's " Missionary Enterprises," alone, is of more real value than all the writings of a Clarke, a Butler, a Paley, a Chalmers, a Leland, and a Lardner, united. There Christianity appears arrayed in her Missionary costume. She presents her majestic form, and shows her beauteous face, on the battlements of a citadel reared by her own hands, with materials furnished by her own conquests. The fruit of Missions is her best defence ; she asks, she needs, no other. Obedience to the Son of God wants no permission ; deeds of the highest benevolence to a suffering world call for no apology. He who opposes the work of Missions,

PREFACE. iii

forfeits all claim to the character of a friend either of God or of man. The adversary of Missions is a foe to the Saviour of the world ; for by means of them alone can his kingdom be extended, and his throne established. The man who scorns Missions, must renounce the Christian Religion, without which the nations of Europe and all other lands had still been dwelling amid the darkness of idolatry. On departing from our world, the Messiah commanded his disciples to go and teach all nations ; they obeyed, and continued in their work till crowned with martyrdom. Their successors for a time walked in their steps; all churches were Missionary Societies ; all Christians, in some shape, Missionary agents. In this way, from one generation to another, the enterprise ought to have proceeded, till all flesh had seen the salvation of God. But the Church slept, and her work ceased ; and even now she is only awaking. Missions, therefore, are no new thing. They are the mere resumption of an ancient undertaking. Their seeming novelty is the severest reproach that can be cast upon the Church. Missions the disgrace of the Church? They are her first duty, her true glory ! Missions the dishonour of those who support and conduct them ? Their chief promoters are the principal ornaments of their country, and the best benefactors of their species !

[v PREFACE.

The object of this volume is, to present the subject of Missions in a new form, and to exhibit its facts and principles in new combinations. It is an attempt at the Philosophy of Missions, — an exposition of their great principles, — a display of their beneficent results. It comprises a series of arguments on the facts of Missions generally, and on those of the South Sea Mission in particular. It is an endeavour, on the one hand, to combine such facts with the principles and doctrines which explain them; and, on the other, by the same facts, to prove and illustrate such doctrines and principles. This the writer believes to be the most successful method of dealing with those important classes of persons whom he is most anxious to reach, and excite to the consideration of this paramount subject. The classes more particularly referred to, are educated, inquisitive youth, — men of more advanced years, addicted to books and study, — collegians of every order, whether Churchmen or Dissenters, in all parts of the Kingdom, — the conductors of the Periodical Press, — magistrates and legislators, — and the upper ranks of society, generally. He deems it, on a variety of grounds, a matter of the utmost moment to obtain the favourable regards of all these classes towards the cause of Missions.

The Author's chief hope, however, is in the

PREFACE. y

Sabbath-school Teachers of the British Empire, and of America. This class of persons are, at the present moment, exerting an influence on the destinies of the millions of England and of the New World, and, through them, of the whole human race, which the wisest of living men can neither estimate nor comprehend. It is cheering to think that these philanthropic agents are already counted by hundreds of thousands, and that their numbers are continually increasing. They comprise the largest portion of the best friends of the cause of Missions ; and from their ranks have been supplied nearly the whole host of labourers now in the foreign field. But this is the lowest view of the matter. Of these religious instructors it is the peculiar province, and it will be the special glory, to cast the mind of the juvenile millions of our race in the mould of Missions. To them it belongs to create and foster the spirit of this great enterprise in the breasts of those who are to constitute the pastors, the churches, and the heads of families, in the coming age. He who remembers these momentous facts, will see nothing incongruous in assigning to Sabbath-school Teachers a section of a volume addressed to the Philanthropists, Philosophers, and Nobles of the land. The subjects of Intellectual and Moral Greatness have been laboured with urgent, but, the Author thinks, with necessary, iteration, — subjects which,

a 3

VI PREFACE, )

notwithstanding their transcendent importance, have not hitherto, so far as he is aware, been fully and practically discussed. The questions of War and Peace, too, as contrasted with that of Missions, and the subject of the Military, as compared with the Missionary, Character, have received a due share of attention. Philosophy, not biography, being the Author's object, he has studiously avoided intruding into that province, which has been assigned to other and highly competent hands.

In addition to the primary design of advancing the glory of Christ and the good of mankind, a minor object was, to rear a slender monument to the memory of a much-loved friend, as an humble contribution towards the celebration of his name and the extension of his usefulness. With this view, he has delineated, at some length, the portrait of a man who has achieved for himself a deathless fame, and concerning whom generations to come will doubtless feel a laudable and reverential curiosity, which that sketch may help to gratify.

With respect to the execution of the Work, the writer has, to the extent of his ability, with much patient toil, endeavoured to illustrate the principles of the Gospel in their relation to War and to Peace. He is satisfied that his discussions are in perfect harmony with that system which the angels of God celebrated as fraught with "peace on earth and

PREFACE. vii

goodwill toward men." He also hopes, that, by adopting the method of Letters, and by selecting individuals between whose characters and the subjects on which they are addressed, there is an intimate connexion or obvious congruity, he has augmented the interest of discussion, avoiding at once the coldness of abstraction and the languor of dissertation ; while it has been his studied endeavour throughout, to give every subject the highest legitimate practical bearing.

The Author trusts that this Work will prove an appropriate Sequel to the "Enterprises" of Mr. Williams, and aid in further developing the worth, beauty, and glory of that wonderful volume ; and it is his fervent desire that the result of the whole may be to sustain the memorable words of William Orme, late Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society, — " In the whole compass of

HUMAN BENEVOLENCE, THERE IS NOTHING SO GRAND,

SO NOBLE, SO CHRISTIAN, SO TRULY GODLIKE AS

THE WORK OF EVANGELIZING THE HEATHEN."

JOHN CAMPBELL.

London, December 23, 1841.

CONTENTS,

TO THE CHURCHES OF GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND, AND AMERICA.

On the past history, present position, and future prospects of the Missionary enterprise 437

INDEX 469

THE

MARTYR OF ERROMANGA

Letter I. To The Teachers Of British And Other Day Schools

ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT AS A BRANCH OF EDUCATION, AND THE PREFERENCE DUE TO MISSIONARY WORK.

Benefactors of your country and of mankind ! to the Christian pastor, the true patriot, the statesman, and the philosopher, your system and labours present a spectacle of the deepest interest. The edifices in which you exercise your functions, are centres of influence of which it is difficult to describe the limits. The economy of our world supplies no standard by which to measure the importance of your services. Eike the true ministers of religion, the utility of your labours is not to be estimated by their earthly reward. The rude millions of which society is composed, cannot yet appreciate them. Be not discouraged, however, but, with the faithful missionaries of the cross, labour on for the good of mankind, in the hope of better times. The day is near in which your work will be its own witness, and will assert its own claims ; go on to awaken, enlighten, and

B

2 ON THE CULTIVATION

elevate the spirit of man, and to impart benefits which gold cannot compensate ! Your work happily carries with it its own reward. How vast and abiding the satisfaction which results from calling forth the intellectual and moral resources of your species, from giving the immortal mind of man a new consciousness of its powers and faculties, invigorating the judgment, regulating the will, and purifying the heart ! Your vocation invests you with a power, which, wisely wielded, will shake and subvert all the despotic thrones and dominions of our world. Your position commands for you an awful and augmenting ascendency in the sphere of human agency. You put forth your strength upon a nation's mind in the morning of its life, when all is young, and fresh, and tender. The lessons you teach become part of the very instincts of opening life. The principles you implant are permanently incorporated with the elements of thought and being. It is not for nothing that you are objects of hatred to the foes of freedom and of human advancement.

In proportion to the greatness of a power are the necessity and importance of its right direction. The work of teaching well deserves the best talents; but moral considerations are paramount to intellectual ; for it is your high province to produce not simply intellectual, but moral results, and the latter are inexpressibly the more important. Hence no degree of mental progress can compensate for deficiency in moral culture ; and the utmost measure of both are essential to complete success in the exercise of your functions. The scale of your competency is one of many gradations ; and he who approaches the highest point is entitled to rank with the most distinguished of his race.

The plain and simple apparatus of your rooms is but the index to your powers. There is no limit to the richness and variety of your communications -but that

OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.

which is set by your own capabilities; and there is scarcely any kind or degree of information which may not be brought to bear upon the interests of education. You may perform miracles in tuition, without book. Thus it was that Socrates and Plato taught the youth of Greece ; but you may infinitely excel both Socrates and Plato, not only in the matter, but in the manner of your communication. Amidst the multitude of subjects which lie before you, especial attention is due to those which are discussed in this volume — War and Missions. What may you not do towards teaching mankind to think aright on these mighty themes ! They come legitimately before you in the two chief departments of history and geography ; and, in able hands, they will never fail to contribute a freshness and an interest to the business of instruction, which nothing else can impart. But that you may teach, it is necessary that you should learn. Let your own minds therefore be thoroughly familiarised with these great subjects. Make an intense and patient study of them till you have mastered them in all their principles, and in all their details. What materials for moral instruction and pathetic exhortation ! On these weighty topics how much you may accomplish towards the reformation of the public taste, and the creation of a public conscience ! You may ultimately implant in the nation's heart an abhorrence of war which nothing can mitigate, and a zeal for missions which nothing can quench ! Thus may you earn the gratitude of earth and the benediction of heaven ! In furtherance of this grand object of Christian philanthropy, let me introduce to your attention the Martyr of Erromanga, whose glorious career and cruel end will supply abundance of striking illustration.

Early in the year 1814, John Williams was aroused by the Rev. Timothy East, of Birmingham, from spiritual slumber, in the Tabernacle, Moorfields, London. From

b2

4 ON THE CULTIVATION

that memorable night, he was deeply convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment ; he saw that he had incurred the penalty of death, and he was filled with a trembling anxiety to escape the wrath to come. He was soon enabled to understand, and led to believe and obey the gospel of Christ, and became a member of the church assembling in the Tabernacle, under the care of the late Rev. Matthew Wilks. The future Missionary, thus blessed with the hope of salvation, and filled with compassion for the souls of men still walking in the paths of perdition, offered himself as a teacher in the sabbath- schools, and was accepted. As he sat, amid his youthful class, on the free benches of the Tabernacle, initiating them in the elements of saving knowledge, his fellow-labourers little imagined how great a man he was one day to become, and how much he was destined to effect in diffusing the word of God among the heathen. The ways of the Lord are a great deep ; he has work, high and glorious, marked out for many of you, likewise, who are, at present, holy and zealous, though humble and obscure teachers of British and other schools.

Young Williams, delighting much in the business of a teacher, was industrious and exemplary in the discharge of his duties. As he advanced in the knowledge and love of Christ, his compassion deepened for the souls of men, and he strongly desired to be entirely devoted to their instruction. He saw multitudes in England pressing on in the broad way that leads to destruction, and his heart bled at the sight ; but, on reflection, he thought the state of the heathen still more lamentable, and such as more loudly called for commiseration. On this ground, therefore, after much prayer to God for direction, and asking counsel of wise men, he offered himself to the London Missionary Society, by whose directors he was accepted, and sent to the South Seas. Such was the deliberate choice of Mr. Williams; and although, alas! it issued in a violent death, it was a wise one. His dreadful end was an event of predestined honour, not of casual misfortune. Paul, the father of Gentile Missions, spent the whole of his laborious life in the spirit, if not even in the anticipation of martyrdom. He was always " ready to die for the Lord Jesus." He cherished the most exalted conception of the apostolic office. He well knew that it was appointed inconceivably to enrich and bless the world. His estimate of its unparalleled importance was formed on this knowledge, and hence his noble-minded exclamation, " I magnify mine office !" He was at all times the subject of a deep, joyous, and exulting conviction, that his was incomparably the highest, the most beneficent, and the most honourable employment in the universe. That consideration formed a chief part of the moral means by which he was upheld under the pressure of overwhelming burdens, and emboldened to proceed amid appalling difficulties and impending dangers.

In this great matter Paul is a pattern to all Christian missionaries. It is not enough, however, that similar views should possess and govern the souls of those who have entered the field of foreign labour ; they should also thoroughly pervade the hearts of the home churches, and form a prominent feature in the creed and the conscience of the rising race. Accurate conceptions, and appropriate feelings upon the subject of missions, are the true basis of all successful evangelical effort ; they constitute the life and power of the enterprise, and are, therefore, especially deserving of study and cultivation. Upon this head, we, your fathers, have still much to learn ; our vision is dim, and our views are narrow ; our emotions are comparatively cold and uninfluential. The business of gospel diffusion is still, in many of our minds, very much an affair of pecuniary contribution. The supply of appropriate human agency,

(5 ON THE CULTIVATION

notwithstanding its acknowledged importance, is, with multitudes, not the first, but the second consideration. Both objects, however, thanks be to God ! are advancing towards their true position in the mind of the churches. We confidently anticipate the period when they will be transposed, when the first question will be men, and the second the means of their support. The time is doubtless drawing nigh, when all the churches of the saints will consider it a culpable neglect of duty, a stain upon their profession, a disgrace upon their character, not to share, in some shape, in missionary contributions ; and, when their gifts will bear a proportion to their numbers and their means. With this conviction of duty, will necessarily be blended the further conviction, that gold and silver, great and pressing as is their importance, are not the prime consideration. The high question of human agency will then take precedence of that and of every other. The great principle will at length be fully acknowledged, that it is the province of the " Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers ;" and that constant prayer to this effect is the paramount duty of all Christians and of all churches. The strong and persevering spirit of united prayer for this object will be accompanied by a deep and growing sense of personal duty with respect to the employment of all other appropriate and appointed means. The people of God will be animated by a holy desire to appear in the foreign field, either in person, or by deputy, to publish the mercy of Heaven to a rebel world.

They will consider this to be the highest honour they can enjoy on earth ; and, in the absence of this, whatever may be their numbers and wealth, or pecuniary assistance to spread the Gospel, they will feel their rank to be one of only secondary importance. So long as they send none of their members abroad " to the help of the Lord," they will consider themselves denied a precious privilege and a high distinction. There is reason to fear, that, at present, this feeling, where it is not dead, is yet dormant among the bulk of the British Churches ; there is reason to fear that it is not very generally and intensely supplicated ; and that when the Lord puts this honour upon a people, it is not always very thankfully received — facts which prove that such churches have yet to be baptized with the true spirit of missions. Mere money contribution is but an uncertain criterion of the Missionary character of a Christian community; it may mainly depend upon the pastor, or upon a few active individuals, who put into motion the machinery of subscription, and uphold it, and without whose agency and zeal, for a single year, it would go into derangement and decay. In this coarse and secular affair, much room, too, is left for the entrance and operation of mixed motives and earthly passions, so that, even in churches, from which large sums annually proceed to the general treasury, there may, notwithstanding, be but little of the living and breathing power and spirit of real missionary enterprise. Even the Missionary Prayer Meeting may present a truth-telling and most condemnatory contrast to the treasurer's report ! Under the improved condition of things, which we anticipate, Christian churches will display harmony in this respect ; and when every fellowship shall have become one pure and naming mass of missionary zeal, the question of pecuniary support will not lose ground, but will inconceivably gain it, by being placed in a position secondary to that of agency. Then, instead of being, as in too many cases it now is, an artificial stream, it will become a natural one, fed by the heart-fountain of ransomed millions. It will no longer be forced — as undeniably, to a vast extent, it now is, but will flow in copious torrents from its own bursting, grateful abundance.

The question of missions — the question of the world's salvation — will be mainly discussed and carried at the g ON THE CULTIVATION

Christian fireside, and in the bosom ,of religious circles. "When the current of enlightened missionary feeling shall have set strongly into churches, it will, at the same time, penetrate households. Godly parents will then come to consider it the choicest of all felicities, the loftiest of all distinctions, to have sons and daughters enrolled among the ranks of the servants of the Most High God, showing to men of foreign climes the way of salvation. The spirit of missions is simply the spirit of true piety existing in full power. With the spread of this piety those views will increase and multiply ; and when this piety shall have attained a healthful maturity, and a general prevalence, those views will impart a new aspect to the business of pecuniary contribution. The celestial fire of the spirit of missions will straightway subdue and melt the hearts of our monied men, and " loose the loins" of our merchant princes to open before the world's Messiah " the two-leaved gates" of their golden stores, " and the gates will not be shut." The power of that fire will everywhere go before him, and make the " crooked places straight," and " break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron ;" it will sweetly constrain converted men to " give him the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places." The dissolving power of that celestial fire will at length release the hoarded millions of Christendom, and render them available to the cause of Christ. Men and money, missionaries and their support, like substance and shadow, will walk in company. Personal and relative fortunes will flow outwards, in torrents, for the sustenance of the armies of the Cross, while the still augmenting mites of the accumulating myriads of the industrious classes will go on to swell the tide of their grateful munificence.

Teachers of the Christian youth of England ! in connexion with this glorious anticipation, we look most wistfully to you ! Your charge is the hope of the Church and of the world. Heaven bless their blooming hosts, guide their hearts into the love of Christ, and fill their generous bosoms with the pure and lofty spirit of peace, and of missions to the Gentiles! It is of the utmost moment that their minds should be early directed to that work, that they should become thoroughly acquainted with the entire subject in all its amplitude and variety of bearing, and be led rightly to appreciate the missionary character. The lamented Williams, who had deeply drunk into the spirit of Paul, has left them a solemn testimony concerning it. Although himself clothed with humility, he understood well how to " magnify his office." In his view, the missionary was the first of mortal men, and his functions worthy of angelic agency ! He has, in the closing paragraph of his " Enterprises," recorded his sentiments relative to this great theme, in words suited to the exalted subject. The passage is appropriately placed in that position, as now sustaining all the weight and solemnity of a testamentary declaration. Since its appearance, the churches of Britain have had time to pause and to ponder, till the unlooked-for and sorrowful event of his death has broken the silence. Should some generous hand ever erect a monument over the recovered portion of his mangled body, that passage would form the most appropriate inscription that could be devised for his tomb. It is as follows : —

" An enterprise, beneficial in so many ways, presents an universal claim ; and we hope the day is fast approaching, when the merchant will not only consecrate the gains of his merchandize to its promotion, but when he shall also add the facilities which commercial intercourse affords, to further the great design ; when the man of science shall make his discoveries subserve this godlike work ; and when not only the poor, but the rich and noble, will feel honoured in identifying themselves with missionary ope-

b 3

10 OX THE CULTIVATION

rations, and in consecrating their influence, their wealth, and even their sons and their daughters to this work ; and why should not the son of a nobleman aspire to an office that an angelic spirit would deem an honour ? Why should not such become active agents in an enterprise which is to regenerate and bless our world ? They aspire after military and naval glory, but here they may obtain distinctions far higher than these : — here, instead of inflicting death in the acquisition of their laurels, they would scatter life, and comfort, and peace, to unborn millions ! And is there more glory in spreading misery than in conveying mercy ? Is it more honourable to carry the sword of war than the gospel of peace ? Is it a higher dignity to bear a commission from an earthly sovereign than from the King of kings ? Oh ! that the minds of the noble youth of our country could be directed to this field of labour and of love, and that the soldiers of the cross were as high in the estimation of our nobility as those who bear commissions from our king ! It will be a blessed day for our world, when the first nobleman's son, influenced by a spirit of piety, and constrained by the love of Christ, shall devote himself to go among the heathen, to turn them from darkness to light. But, whether such forward it or not, the work will go on, enlargement and deliverance will come, until the earth, instead of being a theatre on which men prepare themselves by crime for eternal condemnation, shall become one universal temple to the living God, in which the children of men shall learn the anthems of the blessed above, and be made meet to unite with the spirits of the redeemed from every nation, and people, and tongue, in celebrating the jubilee of a ransomed world !"

Such is the conclusion of the " Missionary Enterprises" — a conclusion full of eternal truth, and clothed with the garment of immortality. It will be enduring as the language of England, and the history of religious missions.

Christian youth ! is it possible to read the passage just cited, without emotion ? How noble, generous, and philanthropic is the spirit of it ? Having returned from the field of evangelical conflict, where he had bravely fought upwards of half a lifetime, he reported the mighty works which God by his hands had done among the Gentiles, and concluded the wondrous recital with these solemn declarations and interrogatories. His weighty words are strongly entitled to the deep meditation of all classes of Christians, but especially of the sons of the aristocracy, that class to whom the martyred man more particularly directed them. To the bulk even of the good, the idea of the son of a British peer going forth as a missionary is as preposterous and as ridiculous as any that can well be imagined. But men should stop, pause, and ask themselves, Why ? Is it beneath the son of a peer to report what it was not beneath the Son of God to perform? The fact which I allude to, only shows how little the public mind is yet imbued with the Spirit of God ! No work is beneath the sons of our nobles, where there is the slightest chance of obtaining gold, power, or glory t Such delusions, however, will have an end. The tide of youthful vigour, which, from the higher classes of Great Britain, has for so many ages been profusely streaming into her armies and navies, and thereby diffused over the globe for purposes of war, conquest, and the conservation of empire, shall not be thus destroyed for ever ! It will one day be turned into a new channel, and spread abroad for far different and infinitely nobler objects. The unmeasured wealth and accomplished life, which have hitherto been so ingloriously wasted at home, or fruitlessly, if not destructively, for mankind and themselves, consumed in foreign climes, and which, under Christian influence, had been enough to enlighten the universal family of man, will yet be consecrated to celestial